A coal company had called Sawyer's South Charleston employer - the Mid-Atlantic Technology Research & Innovation Center - asking whether anyone there knew of a way to treat selenium pollution.

Sawyer had a plastic container filled with zero-valent iron - a material he had used to remove arsenic from water.

"I just happened to remember it was in my SUV stuffed under the seat," Sawyer recalled.

After many tests, Sawyer said he determined the "nanomaterial" could also be used to treat water with toxic levels of selenium.

The discovery led to the founding of MATRIC spin-off, Liberty Hydrologic Systems.

Since the company began, it has installed selenium-removal pilot plants at sites in Idaho, Kentucky and West Virginia. In six months, Liberty has generated more than $1 million in revenue.

"The goal is to protect the environment at the lowest possible cost," said Sawyer, Liberty's chief technical officer. "We're really excited about this."

Selenium pollution from mining operations can permanently damage the environment and pose serious health risks.

Selenium is a naturally occurring element found in many rocks and soils. In tiny amounts, selenium is needed for good health. But in slightly greater amounts, the element is highly toxic.

In humans it can cause hair loss, nail brittleness and neurological problems.

High selenium levels threaten fish survival and reproduction. Contaminated fish often have offspring with serious birth defects - crooked spines and deformed heads.

Mining has long been a source of selenium pollution.

A 2003 federal government study found repeated violations of water-quality limits on selenium by mining operations.

A more recent study by a Wake Forest biologist found toxic levels of selenium in 73 of 78 stream samples near the Hobet 21 mountaintop-removal mining operation along the Boone-Lincoln county line in West Virginia.

While studies have shown that iron-based systems such as Liberty's reduce selenium concentrations in water, the process has had varying success at meeting regulatory standards.

Sawyer said Liberty incorporates the zero-valent iron technology in eight plastic containers measuring 4 by 4 feet. The containers are placed in streams.

Other methods for removing selenium from surface water, such as reverse osmosis, are more costly and require electricity.

Another system uses bugs that eat selenium in the water, but it requires heat and a mechanical pump.

The problem with that method, Sawyer said, is that "you have a lot of bugs."

Many mining operations continue to search for a way to prevent selenium pollution before it starts.

"Unfortunately, the best we can do right now is treatment," Sawyer said. "We haven't found the magic bullet so that it doesn't occur anymore."

Liberty set up one of its first pilot plants at a phosphate mine in southeastern Idaho. Sawyer said places in the Western U.S. have 10 times the amount of selenium found in West Virginia. Toxic levels of the element get in water that livestock drink.

"It's enough that they have had horses and cattle killed," Sawyer said.

Liberty has since established selenium treatment plants in remote areas of West Virginia and Kentucky.

The company's clients include Patriot Coal Corp. Last month, a federal judge ruled that Patriot continues to violate water-quality limits on selenium in West Virginia.

State and federal regulators have argued for years over how much selenium coal companies should be legally allowed to discharge into West Virginia streams. The state Department of Environmental Protection has repeatedly delayed compliance deadlines. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce a tougher selenium standard.

Liberty, which is headed by former state Sen. Vic Sprouse, now has more pilot selenium treatment sites than any other company in the U.S., Sawyer said.

"We're trying to establish business outside West Virginia to bring money into the state," Sawyer said. "That's the one thing West Virginia sorely needs."

Reach Eric Eyre at erice...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-4869.